"To live by love is to go through life sowing peace and joy in hearts!"  --St. Therese of Lisieux

"Now is the time we must shake off the great mantle of night which has enveloped us, and reach for the light. The new day which is dawning must find us determined, enlightened, and resolute."  --Frantz Fanon

"It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. [God] gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity."  --Cesar Chavez

"I desperately want a movement space that knows that compassion is not a zero-sum game. Where we have compassion for people's ignorance. Where we are allowed to be messy and to make mistakes. Where accountability is an act of love and the word 'holding' is the key word in 'holding others accountable.' Where the sanctity of all life and our interdependence to everything that exists is so deeply known and felt that no person will ever question their sense of belonging. Where no matter what any of us has done, that we all know that there will always be space for us here. That no matter what we have done, we will trust our circle enough to grieve the harm that we caused and to say, 'yes, I did that,' and know that we will not be cast out of humanity. Where we can learn to respond to even the most egregious harms without letting our sights off of the North Star of healing."  --Kazu Haga

See Through Things

"Contemplative life is a human response to the fundamental fact that the central things in life, although spiritually perceptible, remain invisible in large measure and can very easily be overlooked by the inattentive, busy, distracted person that each of us can so readily become. The contemplative looks not so much around things but through them into their center. Through their center he discovers the world of spiritual beauty that is more real, has more density, more mass, more energy, and greater intensity than physical matter. In effect, the beauty of physical matter is a reflection of its inner content."  --Henri Nouwen

Clear the Path to Your Heart

"To be calm and quiet by yourself is not the same as sleeping. In fact, it means being fully awake and following with close attention every move going on inside of you. It requires the discipline to recognize the urge to get up and go as a temptation to look elsewhere for what is really close at hand. It offers the freedom to stroll through your own inner yard and rake up the leaves and clear the path so you can easily find the way to your heart. Perhaps there will be fear and uncertainty when you first come upon this “unfamiliar terrain,” but slowly and surely you will discover an order and a familiarity that deepens your longing to stay home with yourself."  --Henri Nouwen

"Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change."  --Richard Rohr